A Kingdom of Heartache
by Scarlettroyalangel1313
Summary: Jace has loved Clarissa since they were children, and now, he can finally be her king. AU. Probably some smut later on.
1. Chapter 1

He watched her from across the dining table. The table was long and mahogany, like the rest of the furniture. She looked tiny and insecure, sitting in the gran and leather chair in front of the lavish meal. Her moves were dainty and soft, yet not at all graceful, in fact, she had tripped a total of four times on the way to the dining room. He had chuckled and looked her dead in the eye, while she blushed a feverish shade of red.

Jonathan Cristopher Herondale had been engaged to Clarissa Morgenstern since she was still in a cradle, and he had just learnt to walk. But he had still stumbled over to the cot and peaked over the tall wooden bars, staring at the baby staring back at him with emerald eyes.

Once she was two, and he four, they were already friends. He found her name long and difficult, and it reminded him of the words that he was just now learning to read. So, he cut it short, right after the i, and nicknamed her 'Clary'. Around then, she put his initials together and called him 'Jacey' which sounded pretty cool at the time.

He remembered teaching her how to read and write, and pushing her on the swing and singing to her when she was crying, reducing her sobs to soft hiccups.

He remembered being ten and deciding that 'Jacey' just wasn't cool enough. But he still loved the name, his best friend had given it to him! Clary, the very observant 8-year-old, offered the boy a change: Jace.

But when Clary hit 10, things started to change. The empire wanted to see the princess more and more, meaning that she had to be properly educated with all the princess manners, for when she finally became queen. Jace, on the other hand, had to learn how to fight and ride a horse so that he could become a strong king.

Their encounters became more and more rare, but Jace still treasured every single one of them. They, of course, knew of their engagement. But at that tender age, couldn't fully comprehend what marriage really was. Still, it meant spending time with each other, so it wouldn't be that bad, right?

But when Jace and Clary were descending into adolescence, Clary at twelve and Jace at fourteen, Valentine Morgenstern and Jocelyn Morgenstern divorced, and the engagement was put on halt. It was, after all, Jocelyn and Celine's idea to marry them to each other. Stephen had no objections, but Valentine despised the idea. Idris, was his kingdom and while Stephen and Celine's was also powerful, there were many suitor's that had far richer and larger lands.

Valentine threatened to take Clary away and marry her to Meliorn, prince of Sidri, and who was a total of twenty years older than her.

When he declared this, Clary ran to Jace, after months of not seeing each other. He too had heard the news, and they were both devastated. Without thinking twice, Jace lifted Clary onto his horse and rode it far, so far, he didn't know where he was. They stopped under an apple tree, and lay underneath it for hours, while Clary cried and cried, while Jace just listened in silence.

"Clary?" Jace had said, the first thing since she had ran into his arms. "Why don't you run away with me?" He had said it. He was fourteen. He didn't know much. He just knew that his best friend, a girl that he had, inevitably started to crush on, was desperate and sad and had nowhere to go. But she had still gone to him.

"W-what?" she had stuttered. The twelve-year-old girl had only ever heard of such thing in her crappy, vampire fictions that lady Isabelle, daughter of duchess Maryse, passed to her in secret.

"Run away with me." Jace had stared into her eyes. He could feel his heart beating in his chest and the doubt worming inside his brain. But he didn't care. He was headstrong, recklessness and, well in 'like' with his best friend.

"Okay." Clary had smiled and had hugged him under the apple tree. There they had lain, in a pleasant silence for hours. They didn't say or do anything. They didn't need to.

To this day, Jace still remembered the way her innocent face lay on his chest, and her eyelids fluttered to sleep. He had been awake for around 5 minutes more than her, but it was still enough. Still enough to feel his heart clench as he stared at his best friend, snuggling with him on the soft, green grass of a meadow under an apple tree.

That was how they had found them, cuddled together in a pleasant slumber. They had separated them, as their mothers hugged them fiercely, full of worry. They informed them that the engagement was back on, as Valentine had lost status since Jocelyn was the original daughter of the King, and had no choice in what happened to Clary.

They pulled them apart, but they both still remembered those few hours of bliss under an apple tree.

Now, it was different.

Jace started 'discovering' things since then. No, let's be brute about it.

He had fucked almost every maiden in the castle, and some foreigners too. They wanted to have sex with Jace, and Jace just wanted to fuck _something_. Specially after balls.

Because when there were dances, Clary was always there. And now, she was eighteen. She had long grown out of her little girl body. She was still remarkable skinny, but that was it. She had breasts that bounced every time she laughed, and her dresses always hugged every single one of her perfect curves just right.

Jace would just get a boner by watching her dance, and he'd have to relieve it somehow. So, he got the first girl who fell into his arms, because let's admit it, they all did, and he took her up to his bedroom.

And when he came, he would grunt and moan Clary's name. He knew that one day he would fuck her. He knew it. But he couldn't wait that long if every single time he saw her, he wanted to push her against a wall and make her lose her senses.

Of course, no-one knew exactly how many women he had bedded. It was a topic discussed in hushed whispers, deep in the castle hallways, meant to never get to the princess. Of course, when Isabelle was one of Clary's closest friends, there wasn't a single piece of gossip that didn't reach her pointed ears.

Of course, she shrugged and waved her hand, saying, "He can do whatever he wants, we aren't even married!" but then, at night she would hug her pillow and leave it moist with her tears. Why did he like every girl except her? Especially when she would choose her dress oh, so carefully, so that it would complement her beautifully.

Still, as hard as she tried, Jace flirted with every single girl in the court. All, except her.

Still, now that she was eighteen, she was to be married to him. The next day, in fact.

That was why the whole family sat at the dinner table that evening, excited and nervous about wedding things that Clary couldn't bother with.

And Jace stared at her from across the long mahogany table, observing her with his golden orbs. Of course, he was polite and listened and joke with the rest of the royal family, but his eyes never left her.


	2. Chapter 2

Jace wiped his hands down his black suit. God, he was nervous. He was marrying the girl of his dreams, the one he had fantasized and wished for, for so long. Sometimes, he wandered what would have happened if he and Clary had run away that day.

He shook his head. It was better to not dwell on all the 'What might have been's. Still, he was excited. More excited than he could ever remember being. Now, he would finally be able to call Clary his. Now, he would be able to explore and discover her piece by piece and make new memories.

He would be able to recreate the memory of her on his chest, happily asleep. And he could finally feel what those hips would be like, grinding along with his…

No Jace!

He almost hit himself in the face. He couldn't think like this right before his wedding! After it, however…

There was a knock on his bedroom door. "Come in!" he called.

The door burst open to reveal Isabelle, who looked him up and down with her fashion's eye.

Izzy, Alec and Max Lightwood were the children of the Dutch and Duchess Robert and Maryse Lightwood. Maryse, Celine and Jocelyn had all been close friends as teenagers, even though Maryse was of a lower status.

There had once even been talk about marrying Alec to Clary, but it had only ever been an idea. Now, Alec was married to Magnus Bane, an emperor of the far, far lands. They had both travelled over to Idris to be at the wedding, of course, as Alec had become a very close friend of Jace's.

It was Alec to whom Jace confessed how he felt about Clary, while Alec held him and rolled his eyes. "Straight people…" he had muttered, but he was always there for Jace, just as Izzy was for Clary and vice versa.

Izzy closed the door behind her and nodded in approval.

"You look nice." She commented as she observed Jace. He had combed his hair, today and he had a new suit on. It was black, but the ends of the sleeves had a pattern, of birds, herondales, chasing after a shooting star. A symbol of their surnames joined together, even though soon enough, she would become a Herondale, like him.

"How's Clary?" Jace asked without averting his eyes from the mirror. "She looks beautiful." Izzy's tone was soft and warm.

"My brother should come up any minute now to go over stuff and I don't know…" Izzy shrugged, "Whatever guys do before a wedding."

The word 'Wedding' hit Jace like a baseball bat. Of course, he knew he was getting married, but he hadn't really realized until now.

"Shit, Iz." Jace muttered, "I'm actually getting married."

Isabelle looked at him with compassion. "Yeah." She placed her hand on his arm.

"You know she likes you, right Jace?" Izzy whispered and Jace looked at her in confusion.

"Every time you slept with a girl… it hurt her. She said she didn't care, but Jace, you could see the pain in her eyes and the tears she was holding back." Isabelle took a deep breath, "Look, what I'm trying to say, is that Clary cares about you, ok? And I care about her." Izzy's hand started to tighten around Jace's arm in an alarming and painful rate.

"And if you dare fucking hurt her, I swear to God, Jace, I will murder you." As she let go of his arm. Jace knew it wasn't strong enough to leave a bruise, but it still hurt like a bitch.

"Bye!" Izzy shot him a smile and ran out of the room.

Jace chuckled lightly and looked at himself in the mirror.

He was never going to be ready for this.

I stared at the door. In a matter of seconds, my bride would walk in. _My Bride_. I shivered at the thought. Alec, my best man stood next to me and gave me a comforting smile. Magnus sat in the third row, with a sparkling and purple suit that caught everybody's eye.

I was slightly annoyed; _this day was supposed to be about my Clary_. _Mine_. Our parents were in front row, along with Izzy, who wore a dark purple, velvet dress which reached mid-thigh. Of course, lots of subjects and people I didn't know were there, or screaming outside. What happened with royalty, I supposed.

Valentine had refused to show up, even. What a father.

Suddenly, the music started playing.

The doors were opened softly, to reveal Clary led by Luke, her step-father.

Clary's hair was pinned up by silver flowers, pinned in her hair. She had barely any make-up on, which made me smile. Even at her wedding, she refused to put it on. And her dress, _god, her dress._

It had a plunging V-line traced with lace of the same herondales and shooting stars as my suit. It hugged onto her body, like the ring that was to be put on her finger. It gripped her tiny waist and flowed out at her hips, full of ruffles and silk. In her hand, she held a bouquet of golden flowers, that I had asked her to carry. They were the same flowers that I had given to her the day after we decided to run away, as compensation for not going through with our plans. Her eyes met mine from down the aisle and she gave me the softest of smiles. Magnus was definitely not the centre of attention anymore, not by a long way.

I even forgot to breath for a minute, because Clary was simply more important.

As she got there she had a light stumble, though it went unnoticed. I smiled. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever set my eyes upon.

And then, she was in front of me, looking up at me through her black long lashes, despite her heels, she still barely reached my shoulders. And now, it was time to exchange vows.

I had written mine over and over, to make sure it was perfect. I had practiced it various times and sighed in frustration when it just didn't sound… right.

I took a deep breath and spoke, "Clary, I promise to love you without condition. To honour you each and every day. To laugh when you are happy, to support you when you're sad, to guide you when you are lost, to challenge you to become better and allow you to do the same for me. To be your biggest fan and your ever-present listening audience." I saw her mouth gape open in surprise, even though she knew I had a way with words since I was a child.

I held her hand and placed the ring on her finger. We had actually chosen the ring together, a few weeks back. We saw many, so, so may rings. But this one was silver, with an emerald apple on top of it, just like our apple tree. And on the ring, was a constant repetition of a heart. Inside the heart, were the letters, 'C+J' she demanded to have her initial first, or it would just look like mine.

"You can't possibly be _that_ cocky." She had sighed. She sighed now, as the cool ring was placed on her finger.

Her turn, now.

"With this ring, I give you my heart, I promise that from this day forward, you shall not walk alone. May my arms be your shelter, and my heart your home." Her voice was sweet and melodic, as she quietly said the words. When she slipped the ring on my finger, I felt a wave come over me.

I didn't know what it was, all I knew is that Clary and I were finally getting married.

"You may kiss the bride"

I broke eye contact for the first time since the beginning of the ceremony to glance at her lips.

I took a step closer to her, as she did to me. This would be our first kiss together, and the one that would join us forever.

She placed her hands on my kneck gingerly, as if she were scared to do more. I wrapped my hands around her waist and looked into her eyes. As I leaned in, and she went on our tip toes, our lips crashed. Somewhere along the way, my eyes had closed. All I could feel was her, all I could see was her, all I could taste was her.

It was all just… Clary.

As we broke apart, we heard cheers from everywhere, as we turned and smiled at the guests.

It was now late into the celebration, many people had gone home, many had gotten drunk, many were bored, many entertained. Celine gestured to Jace.

"Jace, why don't you play the piano for us?"

Jace nodded and sat on the seat before the Piano. Jace was twenty and had been practicing almost every day since he was six. Therefore, he was as good as any expert.

On his second piece, he saw a flash or red in the corner of his eye. There was Clary, leaning on the piano. They had barely spoken since the kiss.

"You've always been wonderful at piano." She muttered, dreamily. "One of my many talents." He winked at her. She surprised herself with a giggle and sat next to him on the seat.

"We're married now, Jace." She whispered, looking up at him with a mixture of fear, excitement and something Jace couldn't quite pin point, yet he knew his eyes showed the same.

"I know." He whispered. "That's… cool?" Clary grimaced.

They looked at each other and laughed.

"Look at us," Jace commented, "Best friends, married, and still super awkward." Clary giggled softly, "Yeah," she sighed, "I think that's a good thing." 

People started to exit the ballroom until there were only a few handfuls of people left.

"Hey, uhh… Clary?" Jace asked timidly. "Yeah?" Clary questioned, "Do you want to leave and go to our… bedroom." He didn't know how it sounded to her, heck, he didn't know what it sounded like to him.

Jace just knew that he had been infatuated with Clary for so long and had fucked so many girls, just to pretend it was her, and now, she was his. And he wanted her. All of her.

"Alright." Clary swallowed, "I just have to throw the bouquet." She grinned at him.

Jace offered his arm, which she took as they walked to the exit. People took notice, and crowded around them. Clary smiled as she looked over her shoulder.

She turned around as she heard a high-pitched squeal. Izzy held the bouquet in one hand.

 _Who would she get married to? She wasn't even seeing anyone!_

Just then, a lord called Simon, who was running for whatever reason, crashed into Izzy and knocked them both over, leaving him hovering over her with red cheeks.

 _Guess I know who._ Clary laughed as she and Jace exited the ballroom on the way to their new, shared bedroom.

 **As you can probably tell, shit ton of lemons from now on. Like, smut all the fucking time. I'm serious. And I'm not even that good at smut so beware!**


End file.
